“Scion does not recommend towing a trailer… your vehicle was not designed for towing.” Welcome to the great American anti-towing conspiracy. Manufacturers of anything less than a big SUV or pick-up are trying to take away our God-given right to tow with our cars. For a guy who’s towed everything from a Radio Flyer wagon behind a pedal-powered John Deere sidewalk tractor, to a three-bedroom house, I feel like I’m being singled out. Of course, there’s a possibility that I’m the cause as well as the target of this jihad. A lot of lawyers do drive the Ventura Freeway, and one of them may well have seen my spectacular stunt with a trailer.

Before I recount the creative maneuver with which I simultaneously occupied all four lanes of “the world’s busiest freeway” at sixty-five mph, let’s look at the prejudice American would-be towers are up against …

in Europe, Yaris’ are magically able to tow

On Toyota’s UK website, the Yaris is credited with a towing capacity of 1050kg/2315lbs. That’s right in line with the old rule of thumb that a car can safely tow an amount equal to its own weight.

But here in the land of the (not so) free, the Yaris’ owner’s manual admonishes: “Toyota does not recommend towing a trailer with your vehicle.” The unnamed author goes on to give a partial pass to our northern neighbors: “In Canada only, total weight of cargo and trailer not to exceed 700lbs.” Please leave your trailers at the border? Perhaps this partial exemption reflects Canada’s status as being somewhere between English and American. But the logic is lost on me.

Rated to tow 4400lbs, but only in Europe

Maybe it’s a blatant tactic by Toyota to meet Tundra sales goals, by forcing us tow-heads into buying that over-achieving tug (rated for 10,000+lbs). But Honda is in on the conspiracy too. The CRV weighs 3600lbs and offers 166hp, about the same as an old gen Explorer. In Europe, where folks often buy CUV’s specifically for their towing capacity, the CRV is rated to tow 2000kg/4400lbs. And in the tow-aphobic US? A measly 1500lbs!

It wasn’t always like this. In the sixties, you’d commonly see 40hp VW Beetles pulling a trailer. In 1976, my VW Beetle died in Ohio heading back to Iowa, so we left it and hitch-hiked the rest of the way. My girlfriend’s Mom was driving a 70hp Corolla, which was rated to tow 1800lbs, exactly the weight of my VW. She generously offered it. Towing the Bug home, the Corolla never broke a sweat.

And during my multiple Peugeot 404 days, I had a tow bar all set to go in order to rescue other 404s, and drove the tandem Peugeots all over the LA freeway network. They never broke a sweat either.

The Long Trailer

Which I can’t say for myself when I nearly shut down the 101.

It was 1986. We had just bought our first house, in Woodland Hills. I rented a big double-axle twelve-foot trailer to haul debris and junk to the dump. My Mexican helper was a zealous worker, loading lots of broken concrete into the back end of the trailer. I remember glancing at the warning sign about having 60 percent of the weight ahead of the axles. But any fleeting thought of relevancy or concern was quickly overpowered by the testosterone-fueled urge to PULL!

That trailer must have weighed about three times as much as the Jeep Cherokee tug. I managed to squeeze into the perpetually crowded Ventura freeway.

how it could have ended

When our rig (finally) hit 65 in the right lane, the trailer began oscillating and fishtailing, which escalated exponentially. The next thing I knew, the Jeep was being swung wildly from side to side, like the tail on a dog. One moment, we were facing towards the shoulder, then across all the lanes facing the center divider. The Jeep was utterly out of control; there was nothing to do but hang on for dear life, waiting for the fishtailing trailer to roll and/or get creamed by the four lanes of traffic behind us.

Fortunately, the other drivers (and that corporate attorney) were on the ball and held back, in awe of our mad gyrations. When enough speed was scrubbed off and stability resumed, we found ourselves four lanes over, in the narrow left shoulder up against the center divider, where we sat bathed in sweat.

I had no choice but to steel myself, get back in the traffic, and fight my way across four lanes while keeping the speed below fifty. When we finally pulled off on the right shoulder, my ashen-faced helper tumbled out, got on his knees and crossed himself, before we started re-arranging the trailer’s load.

Having learned that cardinal lesson of towing, I’m a hair more cautious now. But I still believe that cars, by their nature, are “designed for towing.” So I always carry a tow rope in the old Ford pick-up instead of an AAA card. More than once, Stephanie has schlepped me home with the Forester. I don’t even want to know what its tow rating is; it’s survived just fine. And I’ve found an after-market hitch for the xB, rated for 2000lbs.

[Update: This was originally written in 2008. I did buy a hitch for my Xb, but never got around to mounting it, because shortly afterwards, someone stole my utility trailer. Oh well. But if I find the right trailer at the right price…]

71 Comments

Thats something Im looking for a towbar for my Citroen apparently its little 90hp turbo diesel mill makes it a favourite with caravaners in the UK, all I want is to be able to tow my trailer to the dump and over to the bin hire yard for firewood. The other choice is to register the Hillman and build a towbar for that I used to launch and retrieve a 15foot fibreglass boat with a Humber80 and have towed a 48 Chevy on a rope with one so that would do the trick too, underpowered of course it is, capable yep.

I’ve found the same thing with my Mazda5. Towing is allowed elsewhere, but not in the US. I’ve still mounted a hitch on it, but I don’t have a light controller yet. I use it for a carrier. I wouldn’t tow anything with an automatic 5, I’ve got the 5-speed.

Might part of this come from the seeming desire to accelerate and brake as you’ve not got any extra weight on the back? It seems like going slower (or getting to speed slower) and increased following distance is not in our vocabulary.

Back when I used to buy 10 year old Darts and Valiants in low-rust areas to resell in my high-rust area, I would buy two or three of them at a time. This meant that on one of the trips home I would use one of the new purchases to tow another one of them (with a stiff hitch, abut 350 miles).

It did take some toll on the automatic (if so equipped). But I always made it.

Tow ratings for trucks vary considerably. Some are rated to tow more with automatic. Others are rated to tow more with stick. (Probably a good indicator of which of that particular model’s transmission was under designed).

This is completely about lawsuits. Here in America, where people are both lawsuit happy and untrained in how to actually drive with a trailer, manufacturers do not want to take the chance that someone towing a trailer will kill themselves and then get sued for it. Also, warranty claims… towing will obviously reduce the life of a tranmission, and very few people will do the extra maintenance needed to keep it serviced properly.

I think our country’s hairtrigger legal system and the inability of doofusses to tow a trailer responsibly leads manufacturers to forbid towing more than any variation in the vehicles themselves. If they get sued, they can just point to the owner’s manual and say ‘we toldja not to do it’. It might be worth it to get an overseas issue hitch and wiring from the manufacturer if you’re so inclined.

I hauled my off road motorcycle on a flat trailer and everything including the heavy aftermarket hitch had to weigh at least 1/2 the weight of my Tracker pulling it. I had no trouble like that in the story at all. I don’t know how many times I got flipped the bird, check braked, and near-miss swerved for driving 60-65 (depending on the wind direction) in the right lane on the Interstate. People are assholes.

I saw that the Forester manual talks about a hitch, but I didn’t look at the “capacity”. According to “howstuffworks.com” older models of Forester (woody?) are rated at 2400 pounds. With about 3800 curb weight, that’s going to be conservative.

I’ll stick with the Silverado for most of my little on-road towing. If I need better mileage, I’ll break out the accessory mirrors and the Ranger. Off road, I have a ball hitch on the tractor’s drawbar. Far easier to back a trailer when the hitch point is a foot behind the rear axle, too. (Actually, the tractor did a single trip on road to get rid of a load of pulled up thistles. A mile at 10MPH on a compact tractor without suspension was enough for me, thanks.)

Actually a first-gen Forester only weighs in at 3140 with the manual, so 2400 is getting reasonably close to the curb weight. I’m actually surprised Subaru rated it that high in the US, it would seem that most unit body cars are rated at 1500 or less.

Really? That seems high, even for model bloat. Edmunds lists a curb weight for the 2012 at 3250, with towing at 2400.

Red County Pete

Posted March 19, 2012 at 8:37 AM

As my wife assures me, I’m often wrong, and this looks like one of those times. Subaru treats curb weight as a deep mystery (have to go to the roadside scale sometime to finalize the number), but TrueDelta agrees on 3250. The manual says 1000 lbs for a non-braked trailer, and 2400 pounds with brakes. They also say not to exceed combined gross rating of 4480, so I’m not sure what they really mean. (I’ll probably always have a pickup on hand, so it should be a moot point.)

Come to think of it, my 84 Ranger was also pretty tightlipped about the curb weight. Gross limit was available, but you had to find out for yourself what you started at.

christauph

Posted March 19, 2012 at 12:34 PM

I usually have to rely on an internet source for these things, I find most manufacturers don’t list it on chassis plates. Odd, considering they list the Gross weight as you mentioned. I’ve figured out the weight of my old F100 before by looking at the tare weight printout at the dump, but can’t remember what it is now.

Love trailers. Have three of them and all can be towed by a small pickup or car. When we bought the Nissan cube the salesman played dumb about tow payload. I don’t think it was a stretch.

Uhaul sells a 2000 lb (IIRC) tow hitch for it and I expect I will eventually get it. This is the first car I’ve owned that spent any time without one. The only caveat that I’ve learned that I keep written in stone is that I won’t tow using the overdrive gear in an automatic.

When I sold firewood in the early eighties I had a Datsun pickup and a Datsun trailer (made from back half of junked datsun pickup). A cord of oak firewood made that a sight to behold. This cube is a six speed manual. There is no way that it will escape.

A little more searching shows the cube to weigh just under 2800 lbs or 200 less than a Toyota scion xb. At least two hitch companies are willing to sell a hitch for 2000 lbs and a 200 pound bumper weight. Not surprising since the 1.8 engine is almost as big as the 79 Datsun pickup I owned and the first gear of the six speed manual seems low enough to walk my dog if I chose.

That means to me that the between the tractor and the car I can even tote round bales of hay. Maybe the s10 gathering dust in my driveway can gather dust somewhere else. Just thinking.

Thanks for a provocative article that really said stuff I have been thinking for some spell now.

Over the years I learned a few things about towing.
1) Same as you, Paul, I learned not to bias the trailer load behind the trailer axles. I was hauling a load of pipe and fire hydrants on a tilt-bed trailer, the safety latch bent, and the trailer tilted. I did manage to get it off the road; then had to unhitch and leave it, haul the load in the truck to the destination, unload it, then go back, transfer the trailer load to the truck, rehitch the trailer, and jury-rig the tilt latch. Not a fun day.
2) Tilt-bed trailers that have an inside wheel and an outside wheel on each side will always blow the inside tire.
3) The kind of tow clamps that were available from rental outfits in the 1970’s do not work well for towing a 1953 Mercury – they work loose and have to be re-tightened every four or five miles.
4) On the other hand, I did successfully tow a Crosley station wagon from Corvallis to Puyallup.

I love The Long, Long Trailer, too. The trailer is a New Moon, probably a 1953, which is the year the movie was made.

But look closely in some of the long shots, where the car is pulling the trailer with mountain vistas in the background…it’s not the Mercury convertible used in the close ups, but a Lincoln disguised to look like a Mercury!

One day I came back from a retreat to learn that my wife had purchased a Volvo p444. Sounds like a great car huh? Well it was way up in Lyons on a farm and she had already paid the man for it with no thought of how to transport it. I went out there to see if I could drive it back. I certainly could not. No one could drive it, ever. It was rusted out completely in the trunk and much of the floor. The engine was filled with water, and it was in the mud. But it was already paid for.
I rented a double axle trailer at U-Haul to pull with my 1973 International Travelall 1210 4×4. It had a tongue mounted inertia break even though my truck had an electric brake controller.
So I got it up there and got the car winched out of the mud with a Come-A -Long and secured unto the trailer. Our way back took us over some windy and hilly bits of highway. I was coming down a big hill and the highway developed into a double S bend. Into the first bend I realized my speed was a little too high for my load so I began to brake moderately. But because we were going downhill the tongue mounted inertia brake came on very heavily and locked up the trailer wheels.
I saw the Volvo in my side mirror swinging into the opposing lane. The apex of the first bend was dead ahead. On our left was a steep hill and a ditch, on our right was a guard rail and a cliff. I though to myself that I probably had just enough power in that 392 V8 and four barrel carb to pull it straight by accelerating briskly in a straight line through the S bend. But I did not know what would happen when we hit the next bend at our new increased speed, still traveling down hill.
I put the pedal to the metal and aimed for the opposing lane in order to make a strait path thru the curve. But just as I did, a Chevy truck traveling in the opposite direction came around the curve! “Damn” I thought, and I really believed that was going to be my last thought.
I could only imagine the look on his face as we were traveling on a direct collision course. I could not alter my path now. I pointed the hood toward the left shoulder hoping that I could shoot between the Chevy and the ditch/hill on his right. For a split second I closed my eyes, the headlights of the Chevy aiming straight for us, the 392 groaning in faith that the trailer behind us was now straightened out.
Nothing went bang or screech. I opened my eyes to find us lined up perfectly with the next bend and the Chevy in our mirror. That’s the last time I used a trailer with inertia breaks.

Your story reminds me of the time I had to tow a 63 Cadillac Deville that was given to me as a parts car. My Dad had a 78 Town Coupe with a hitch, but apparently didn’t like the idea of trusting it to his 18 year old kid to tow a car with. So, he lent me my stepmother’s 74 Cutlass Supreme. Towing a 5,000 pound car with a 4,000 pound car was one of the most exciting things I have ever done in my life. And not in a good way. I never had the guts to get it over 35, which made my 30 mile tow about an hour-long ride, with the tail indeed wagging the dog the whole way.

The only other lesson I learned about towing trailers came from my car-mentor Howard. Howard’s advice: When you are driving and get near anybody with a U-Haul trailer, get the hell away from it as fast as you can, because if the guy knew anything about towing a trailer he would have his own.”

As a professional driver I always stay the heck away from Rental Trucks and RVs. You have all sorts of fools treating large and heavy vehicles like they are a 4k lbs. car and not the 10-20k trucks that they are.

A significant amount of U-Haul equipment will fail a through Pre-Trip Inspection. Penske and Ryder do a much better job of keeping up their equipment. In a pinch I would take a U-Haul trailer though..as long as the tires and bearings are good there is not too much else that can fail on one.

Ive been sentenced to some rental tractor units with major faults a couple of times intermttent lights was probably the worst great fun at night and probably only a bad main earth but when you are charging like truck rentals do here not good enough but allowing car steerers loose in trucks is madness anything here over 3,500kg GVM requires a class2 truck licence anything smaller is only a ute and can be driven on a car licence

In Oregon they let us unwashed drive up to 16000 lbs gross. I’ve done a bit with a cab-forward structure type fire engine and it’s pretty jarring to go from a pickup to that beast. (Didn’t help that the last time the rig had been properly serviced was when Gerald Ford was President.)

About 6 years ago we were moving the suburbs to a house about 25 minutes drive away in the country. I figured, what do we need to hire a mover for? I have a pickup truck with a hitch, and friends that will work for food. I reserved a big U-haul covered trailer for the weekend.

First, U-haul lost my reservation in their computer system. The guy at the counter said I could only have the trailer for the day Saturday, because it was rented out on Sunday. Grrr….

The surge brake mechanism on the tongue was jammed-up so there was no way it would’ve worked. Didn’t bother me in this case since the road with the highest speed limit I’d be taking was posted 50MPH, and I’d only be going up one long, straight hill with the trailer loaded.

Thankfully, it was uneventful but tiring, moving almost the entire contents of our house in one day.

My experiences with U-Haul equipment mirror yours. The U-Haul truck that we rented about 10 years ago to move my mother about 60 miles to another city was a worn-out pos that had multple problems, some of them safety-related. My brother in law (a farmer used to driving big trucks and other equipment) was livid about what U-Haul rented us.
Not sure if still true, but their system used to have built-in disincentives to fix problems. If a location got a vehicle with a problem, it was supposed to send it off to be fixed. But then the shop had to use manpower to transport it and also be without a vehicle to rent out, so it lost out two ways. The incentive was to rent it out anyway and pass the problem off to the next guy, like a big game of hot-potato.

christauph

Posted March 19, 2012 at 7:42 AM

+2 on the U-Haul experience. I’ve used them three times. The first was uneventful, MI to NYC in a 16 ft truck. When I moved back 4 years later, I towed a double axle trailer with my Crown Vic. Upon arrival in MI, I found that the door seals had leaked and soaked everything on the floor of the trailer. At least I was able to file a claim with them and get reimbursed for the damage.

The third and worst experience was 4 years ago when moving locally. I needed it on a Saturday and had limited pickup options. I ended up making the reservation with one of the small businesses that also happens to have a couple of trucks, Quick Made Trophy in Warren, MI (avoid if you don’t like being berated and sworn at). They had my truck but none of the dollies, furniture pads and straps that I had reserved. The old coot behind the counter told me I’d have to drive 10 miles out of my way to another store if I wanted them, and when I asked if those miles would be subtracted from the total mileage he complained that everyone was trying to get something for free these days and said I could get the f*ck out of his store if I didn’t like it. He also threatened to give my truck to someone else.

When I called Uhaul to complain about the treatment, they told me they had never had complaints about him (hard to believe) and that sometimes people get stressed out. Well, your stressed out franchisee managed to simultaneously lose you a customer and give me the worst customer service experience of my life.

jpc: Was your U-Haul truck a “one-way” or “local” (round-trip) rental? Not to be a U-Haul apologist, but those are two different fleets, at least in many or most locations. The one-way trucks are usually newer, and keep floating around the country. But the local trucks can be ancient, as they’re not expected to go far. I’ve seen some local U-Haul trucks from the seventies. Is suspect that they’re actually owned by the local franchisee, which means there may be a huge variation in their condition and maintenance.

Red County Pete

Posted March 19, 2012 at 1:23 PM

My experience matches Paul’s on UH trucks. As a secondary note, if you go to a UH depot that normally does one-ways, the fleet trucks are a bit better even for local. We had a scramble when we moved from San Jose to Klamath County in 2003, since we ended having to be out in 2 weeks (super fast sale). Got experience with the U-store places (look for short-term deals on storage units) and the rental truck firms.

UH had a decent but small van (US-made full-sized, set up for cargo), while Hertz/Penske offers nice trucks for local rental, and for a couple of weeks at a time. We used movers for the household stuff, but my shop stuff was a DIY effort, and I used a Budget truck. A woefully underpowered Isuzu diesel–I got passed by big rigs on the hills on I-5 near Weed. Not sure of my weight, but I was legal. (I would have stayed with Penske for the one-way, but no Klamath depot, and I would have had to go to Eugene for the dropoff. Not my idea of fun.)

Not only is the artificially low towing capacity of U.S. cars frustrating, it’s almost as though late-model cars are purposely designed to make installing a receiver difficult (read: expensive).

Both of the Nissans in my household require removal of one or both mufflers to install a receiver. I wanted to install one to carry a bike so I could ride for exercise during road trips for business; it ended up costing less to buy an additional, folding bike. And that price didn’t even include trailer wiring, which would have brought the total cost over $1,100.

And don’t get me started on U-Haul. Even though I have never owned an Explorer, after reading about their idiotic “no Ford Explorers” policy, I seriously question the intelligence of that company’s leadership, and/or that of its attorneys. What makes it even more ridiculous is that it doesn’t apply to Mercury Mountaineers or Lincoln Aviators…

Perhaps the Lincoln, but not the Mercury. It’s related to the tire issues – back in 2000 – which has little to do with the ability to tow (particularly since all of the offending tires have long since been replaced).

No matter how many or how heavy only one rule applies to trailer problems ACCELERATE to pull it straight NEVER brake especially if the trailer outweighs the tow vehicle. Michael is right power on will get you out of trouble, brake and all you do is make it worse.

I can still remember walking into Richmond BMW with the European part number for the BMW approved receiver for my ’90 E30 325is . . . . . . to be told by the parts guy that the number did NOT exist in the US; American BMW’s were incapable of towing, period; and under no conditions would he even consider trying to get the European part for me. At which point he also did his best to make me feel like some kind of low life schmuck that I would even denig “The World Finest Driving Machine” by putting a trailer behind it. Even though I wanted to haul my K75C on it.

As to being able to tow anything: Daytona Bike Week 2001, and the wife is going with me, so I’m (for the first time) trailering to Bike Week. To attempt to alleviate the ignominy that year, I took both my Ducati 906 Paso and my ’69 Bonneville. As we’re crossing the GA/FL border on I-95 I pass what had to be the rattiest looking BMW R60/2 with sidecar I’ve ever seen . . . . . pulling a trailer with a rolling basket case /2 strapped down on it. And a spare /2 engine in the sidecar. And we (S-10 V-6 powered) were doing 75 when we passed him, slowly, so he had to be doing 70.

I’ve often used the ’69 F-100 to haul hay (1 ton in the bed and 2-3 on the hayrack), but then you’d expect that from an old-school pickup.

One of our most epic family adventures involved driving from Atlanta to the Boston area in my ’71 VW van (see the writeup on “The Mayfield Belle” elsewhere on this site), towing a small enclosed u-haul trailer with one of those clamp-on bumper mounted hitch rigs. The constant flexing and jarring weakened and then broke the bumper mounts (the 3-4 hours before it let go, I had three tie-down straps wrapped around the bumper in an attempt to keep things connected). Needless to say, we had to leave the trailer on the side of the road (just north of the Bronx, too) and rent a second car for the family to return home in so had room in the van to carry a load of furniture and other items from the wife’s grandfather’s estate.

More recently, I’ve used my ’00 TDI New Beetle to pull a small utility trailer (usually to the landfill), which it does without breaking a sweat. “Herbie” has also pulled:

– A Fully Loaded hayrack (2-3 tons of hay, just pulling out of the field)
– Manure spreader (taking home from an auction – that got some laughs!)
– 300 bushel grain wagon loaded with oats (to the grain elevator)
– Various other farm implements to and from neighbor’s farms, etc.

Other than taking it slow and easy, it did fine with all of those. Of course, they also mostly have dual axles, so there’s not much weight on the hitch.

The scariest trailer moment I’ve had was using our church van and a borrowed car trailer to bring home a ’68 F-250 parts truck. Even with the truck against the front of the trailer, it still had too much weight behind the axle, and we did one of those amusement part oscillation deals at anything over about 35mph. The first time was definitely a “pucker factor 11” moment.

The B-bodies were the last cars that were rated to tow at least 5000lbs in the US.

The Magnum had an optional tow package that gave it a rating of 3800lbs. A few Charger owners have installed the parts on their vehicles.

The S60, XC70, and S80 have a capacity of 3300lbs.

The really interesting one is Saab. From 2003-2010, the 9-3 and the 9-5 had a 3500lb rating. However, The final 9-3s had a standard tow rating of 3527lbs, and the Epsilon-based 9-5 had a rating of 3968lbs with the 2.0T and a 4409lbs tow rating with the V6.

With those high and non-rounded numbers, it seems possible that Saab never bothered to change their tow rating between the US and the rest of the world.

Incidentally, this 3300 lb rating on the Volvo S60 includes everything from the base European 140 HP naturally-aspirated version to the 2004-2007 turbocharged R model with 300 HP and huge 4-pison Brembo brake calipers and 13″ brake rotors.

It’s almost compulsory to have a towbar and tow things for the heck of it here in New Zealand. Even my first car, a 1971 Mk1 Ford Escort back in ’92, had a towbar (that I used on numerous occasions). But, I am the shame of my family for not having a towbar on my current car… And I realised how annoying it is last weekend when I was shopping for a new bathroom suite. Sure, the store had a loan-trailer, but it was pointless without anything to tow it with. So a towbar is on the short-list.

Gee, gravity must pull harder in Canada than the US. As far as liability, I’m not sure how the manufacturers would avoid claims when it was discovered the very same cars are actually rated to tow things in Canada, Europe and elsewhere. They’d be forced to say “We think Americans are litigious idiots.” While that may be true in some (or many!) cases, it’s not really a defense.

My dad regularly used his ’99 Volvo V70R wagon to pull our ski boat in and out of the water. He never had a problem.

I’m not sure what his caravan weighed, but my uncle had trouble towing his 30′ caravan behind his Ford LTD (76-78 model) around 30 years ago – the rear axle bearings kept overheating. That car had a 351C, FMX trans and 9″ diff with a 120″ wheelbase so the car was perfect for towing, the van was just too heavy. As well as all the usual effects for a 12 month trip around Australia, they had also taken their two rocker-recliners so probably 500lb just there. He traded it on a Jeep Cherokee (aka Grand Wagoneer), and there are some pretty impressive stories about the hard work that rig endured too.

I have done a bit of towing, the least impressive tow car I’ve used was a 2001 Holden Commodore wagon, it was the model before they added toe-control links to the semi-trailing arm IRS so it was susceptible to trailer sway with movement of the rear suspension arms. The other poor aspect was the weak 3.8 V6 that would unlock the torque converter at any gradient and shoot up to 3000rpm while the fuel gauge plummeted.

The last major tow I was involved in was when my now former 92 Ford Ranger’s master clutch cylinder went out one cold, December evening and had to call to have it towed to the nearest garage found through my insurance company, and it turned out to be 2 neighborhoods over from where I was (in my ‘hood, trying to find parking after getting home from work late, it WAS 9:30pm or so) and ended up on Queen Anne Hill, on top of the hill itself. The next day, found out some bogus stuff from the garage so called my best friend and we ended up, the following morning taking it to his school to get it officially fixed.

That meant borrowing his oldest brother’s large, late model Silverado truck and renting a tow dolly and towing the truck all the way to Bremerton, via the Narrows Bridge. Fortunately,. my truck was a 5spd so no issues there. We went up to the garage on top of Queen Anne hill, hitched up the truck and drove the back roads down the north side and eventually to I-5 south to highway 16 across the bridge to Olympic College where he worked and that’s when they found out the master clutch was bad.

$600+ bucks and 2 weeks later, just before school let out for Christmas break, I got my truck back, running as good as new.

The last tow period was when this same friend borrowed my truck as it has a towing package on it to hook up his double axle utility trailer and we stuffed it, and the bed of the truck with yard debris and he drove it to the dump, amazed that the old 4.0L V6 still had decent power despite being somewhere over 200K miles on it.

As for U-Haul, have had my dealings with them and that was when i tried to rent a trailer for my move to my current apartment, the online system said a particular dealer had the trailer we needed, but when I called, they claimed they didn’t have it and I had a near shouting match with the sales clerk.

Finally, I managed to find a place, out in Spanaway i think that had what we needed, but the only way to rent it was to have either a larger truck or one that’s a 4×4, and we ended up using his brother’s 87 Nissan pathfinder and we got my stuff moved as the truck they WERE going to use was I think a 92 Toyota 2WD truck and this was in late 2003.

I have an image of my oldest sister, her first husband and their 6 month old or so daughter pulling up in front of my childhood home in their ’74 Chevy Nova with a clamp on hitch, a small covered U-Haul trailer with all their worldly goods as they’d moved back after graduating from Nashota House Seminary, tired, dirty and full of Mt St Helen’s Ash as they’d driven through Eastern Washington a month after the mountain exploded back in 1980.

Some of you might recall that I purchased a new ’12 Ford Escape a few months ago. I’ve been toying with the idea of having a hitch installed. It’s a four cylinder four wheel drive model. It absolutely will not squeal the tires but it does very well on gas. I can’t imagine having a problem towing with it, as I would never pull anything larger than a simple utility trailer.

I towed a 4×6 U-Haul from NJ to Minneapolis with my 1985 Honda Prelude back in 1989, when I moved out there for a new job. Driving across I-80, I discovered that the fastest I could go was 60mph. I would catch drafts of every semi that passed me to get my top speed up. Fortunately, my next few moves were paid for by the company.

I towed a 5×9 (a much better trailer) with the same ’85 Prelude to bring a table saw, a radial arm saw and some other woodworking gear from NJ to MA in 1996 by that time, I had almost 200,000mi on the Prelude’s and it’s clutch would slip annoyingly if I gave it too much power in to high a gear. I had to be real careful in the hills of CT with that combo.

My one big complaint about U-Haul trailers is the low quality tires they put on the things. They are bias-ply, I’ll bet they are retreads, and they get very hot compared to the radial tires I had on my car.

I’ve got a hitch on my ’04 xb and it has done a bang up job towing stuff all over the Northeast.

The ’62 Scotty trailer was probably the biggest strain, but mostly because it was pulling 1000lbs+ over the tallest part of I-90. I did get down to 45mph on the worst uphills, but other than that it did great.

I have a 3×4′ utility trailer that I bought because most of my belongings were going into storage 45minutes away and I wanted to limit the trips. It has turned out to be surprisingly useful and has hauled an incredible variety of random stuff.

I have a ’83 Chevy C-10 that I have modified over the years for fairly heavy towing. I upgraded the entire suspension front & rear to 3/4 ton, added a full floating 3/4 ton rear axle, 1,500lb overload springs to the rear, a 4 core radiator from a 1 ton Suburban,aux trans and oil cooler, and an electric fan assembly from an old Honda Accord (fits perfectly in front of the trans & oil coolers). It also has an electric brake controller and a V-5 rated frame hitch. I built the 383 stroker engine for it myself, and it has had quite a bit of internal machining mods done for better flow thru the heads,better oiling,and full balancing. The trans is a turbo 400 that’s had the clutch packs swapped for HD ones, and a modified valve body. We’ve towed our 36′ bumper pull travel trailer that weighs about 11,000lbs loaded probably 40-60k miles since I built the truck in 1999 and so far the engine has never had the valve covers back off it.

I used to have a 1983 Honda Accord 4dr sedan with a 5 speed, and I had added a simple tow hitch to it that I built from scratch. I used it to tow a small utility trailer around, and occasionally our 15′ Glastron ski boat. One day, a friend of mine called saying he had broke down and needed help. He was on the side of the Interstate, about 1/2 mile from the exit, and was in his F-100 towing a 16′ flatbead trailer loaded with furniture. The truck had a fridge, washer and dryer, and a few other things in the bed. (they were moving.). He was shocked when I hooked a log chain up to the Honda, then his truck, and proceeded to tow both truck & trailer up the side of the Interstate and off the offramp to the repair shop located at the exit. Mind you, it was level ground, there was no tounge weight, and I never got out of first gear… but that Honda pulled it like it wasn’t even back there!

I hauled my Lil’ Guy tear drop camper from Long Beach CA to St Johns Newfoundland, Minnesota to Miami and then some. I figure about 30,000 of my Yaris’ 160,000 miles. It did knock my gas mileage down to about 34 mpg, but no other ill effects. In Canada the same car had a 1,000 pound recommended limit to towing capacity. In the States ‘though shall not tow’. Now I’m pulling the same trailer with a Prius C. Only ill effect so far is mileage drops down to 48 mpg. I must confess I’m not the fastest car on the road. Honk as you go by!

I think the biggest issue with reduced/ not recommended towing by small vehicles in the US is the average US driving style. It’s probably best for auto manufacturers to discourage towing with their products when they know that many of those drivers will be holding a Big Gulp in one hand, texting with the other hand and steering with their knees.

I’ve wondered a lot about this as well. I live in Europe (Norway), and over here, pretty much any car can tow. Also, nearly all new cars are sold with a hitch, as it’s so common to tow a trailer here that reselling a car without a hitch can become harder.

Part of the reason is because cars are very expensive in Norway, so is fuel. Cars are taxed based on engine power and emissions, and big trucks like those used in the US simply are not sold here. The biggest you can go are stuff like Hilux class trucks. If you want a big F- series or such, they have to be imported individually.

Also, to tow anything over 750kg you need a seperate license, with tutoring and a practical exam. Even these tests use basic Passat or Mondeo (Ford Fusion) estates as their tow car.

Personally I have the towing license, and I’ve towed a lot of different stuff with small cars. I currently have a tiny Lancer ’96 with a 1.3 75hp engine (I’m 21 and need to save up for a house, so it’s an economical choice). It weighs just under a ton, but can still legally tow 950 kg. I’ve pulled several trailers with it, even a larger box trailer.

One thing I’ve noticed is that American made trailers seem very heavy to begin with. In Europe trailers look totally different, constructed of light- weight metals to provide as small a dry weight as possible.

Oh and to make an example of the high tax in Norway; the Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0 CRD is available to buy new in Norway. It costs 146.000 US dollars. It’s probably a lot cheaper than that in the US?

Titan Engineering – Car trailers – has been manufacturing high-quality, custom trailer and enclosed trailers since 1982. Located in the Australia, Titan Engineering sells and services the Australia with a broad range of durable and reliable custom trailers to meet a wide variety of needs.

Wondering if anyone has experience in towing with a cvt? My Sentra is a 2.0 with CVT. It’s rated to tow 1500. I’m sure a trans cooler would be good. All I wanna tow is my small box trailer when I relocate. I’m thinking if I go slow on hills like any trailer and pack it correctly I should be fine.